“The most American of American movie critics … James Agee enters The Library of America as a twofer—and, in what seems like an LOA first, one volume is devoted to his ‘film writing.’” — The Village…
“The stories [are] tense, elegiac, remorseless in their insistence on the past’s dominion over the present. . . . As compactly and tightly written as prose poems.” —Joyce Carol Oates, The New York Times Book Review
“A landmark volume of one of America’s great short story writers. Essential.” — Library Journal (starred review)
“Wilder is a novelist of morals. . . . They are answers found by individuals to the old problems of faith, hope, charity or love, art, duty, submission to one’s fate . . . and hence they are relatively universal; they can be…
“The Library of America is entering one of the great periods of contemporary American literature [with] some of the best American writing anywhere, anytime. In the category I would unhesitatingly put Philip Roth’s Operation Shylock,…
“I am French Canadian, born in New England. When I am angry, I often curse in French. When I dream, I often dream in French. When I cry I always cry in French.”
“For several months I have been camping out in the mind of Ralph Waldo Emerson. It is a companionable, familiar, and yet endlessly stimulating place, and, since his mind is stronger than mine, I keep referring to his wisdom, even his doubts,…
“Finally, a definitive collection of work by one of America’s greatest film critics. Manny Farber’s approach to movies was utterly unique—he saw elements and values that no one else saw, and he gave us the tools to see them, too.”—Martin…
“A stupendous, spellbinding reading experience waiting to be had.”—Jonathan Lethem “A valuable collection of excellent, often deeply disturbing stories.”— Kirkus Reviews